The group stage of the 2023 World Cup has been ended on November 12. India and the Netherlands met in the last group-stage match. Except for India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, all other team has been knocked out in the group stage. Pakistan is one of them. They also ended their World Cup journey in the group stage. In the whole tournament, they faced disappointments. After their inclusion on the big stage, a big change happened in the Pakistani coaching team.
The Big Change:
Pakistan showcased their poor bowling performance in the World Cup. Their bowling department was just unable to execute their plans. As a result of this failure, the team was knocked out of the group stage. That was disappointing. They started their World Cup journey with two excellent wins. But after that, they lost their form and started facing consecutive defeats.
In this atmosphere, a major change happened in their coaching position. South African legend Morne Morkel resigned as Pakistan’s bowling coach position. He was assigned a six-month contract with the team in June. As the bowling coach of the Men in Green, his first tour was to Sri Lanka. Pakistan won the series with a 2-0 margin. After that, they played an ODI series against Afghanistan. Pakistan registered a win in that too. He was the bowling coach of the team in the Asia Cup in the World Cup.
Morne Morkel is a South African legend. He served South African cricket for a long time. He played 318 international matches for his team. In 160 test innings, he took 309 wickets. He played 114 ODI matches and picked up 188 wickets. In 44 T20 matches, he took 47 wickets. He bagged a total of 544 wickets in his international career.
Pakistan’s Poor Performance:
Pakistan has one of the best bowling attacks in the cricket world. But they failed to showcase their bowling talents on the World Cup stage. Pakistan’s spin department was an absolute disaster. They won their first two matches of the tournament and lost their first match against India. After that, they started winning consecutive matches. Afghanistan registered their first-ever ODI victory against Pakistan in this World Cup. The bowlers bowled extremely expensive overs throughout the tournament.
Another concern for the team was fielding. Almost in every match, their fielding was in the poorest form. While talking about this, a player’s fitness comes up as a reason for it. They missed easy catches and failed to save many crucial runs. As a result of that, they faced multiple defeats. Because of all that, they faced disappointments in the tournament. Even after the World Cup, the Pakistan team is going through a lot of things. Last month, Inzamam ul Haq stepped down as PCB Cheif and now Morne Morkel.
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